1 Samuel 12 Samuel’s Farewell

 

Introduction

Last words are often memorable and profound.

The great evangelist, D. L. Moody said, ‘One day you will read in the newspapers that D.L Moody is dead. Don’t believe a word of it. I shall be more alive in that day than ever before.’ And on his deathbed, he said, ‘Earth recedes, Heaven opens before me! If this is death, it is sweet.’

In 1 Samuel Chapter 12 we have Samuel’s last words to God’s People as Judge over Israel. And in this farewell speech he takes the opportunity to call God’s People to live faithfully in response to God’s covenantal faithfulness.

We can picture this Chapter as a scene from the cosmic courtroom. The Prophet, speaking on God’s behalf, builds his case by emphasising the faithfulness God has shown to God’s People in the face of their faithlessness. This speech is designed to call the people to renew their commitment to God in light of who He is and what He has done for His People.

And so our passage can be understood like this:

The Case Against Us

The Fear Upon Us

The Grace Shown to Us

As God’s People today, how much more can we attest to God’s astounding covenantal faithfulness!

And so, we must not forget the riches we have in the Gospel, or forsake what God has called us to do as His People. Instead we remember the great things God has done in Christ and we renew our commitment to Christ as our Saviour and Lord.

Let’s ponder these truths, firstly, as we consider…

The Case Against Us

Samuel begins his farewell speech by clarifying the situation: The People, in asking for a king, had rejected God. And so, the People must return to God and renew their covenant with Him.

Samuel will use his speech to call for repentance and renewal. In this way Samuel seeks the flourishing of God’s People under God’s sovereignly gracious rule.

To do this we Samuel vindicates his rule, brings an accusation, and confirms their condemnation- they must face the reality of the bad news before they could truly receive the good news.

Samuel’s Vindication

Samuel’s primary concern is to help them face their reality. But first, out of necessity, he must have Israel’s testimony vindicating his own leadership. And so, in verse 3 Samuel is putting himself in the dock, and he’s essentially saying in the presence of God and before the congregation: You should just check and see whether I have stolen from anybody, whether I defrauded anybody, or whether I oppressed anybody. I’m going to stand here, and you can determine whether my leadership has been marked by bribery and by self-promotion.

In verses 4 and 5 the people vindicate Samuel. He had been a faithful Judge over God’s Covenant People.

With his credentials publicly established, the defendant turns prosecutor against Israel the accused.

Samuel’s Accusation

Not only has Samuel been faithful, but so has God. In verses 6 and 7 Samuel effectively says: Stand there and listen while I remind you of all the righteous deeds God has performed for His People. I want you to think about God’s incredible goodness to you throughout your history. I want you to see the stark contrast between the faithfulness of God and your faithlessness. I want you to stand still and reflect on the great things God has done for you.

It is this consideration of God’s incredible goodness that shows up the absurdity the people’s response. And it is only when we consider the grace of God to us that we are provoked to true repentance.

Think about how David begins his great psalm of repentance; in Psalm 51 we read:

¹ Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
² Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.

When we see how He has acted towards us in the face of our sin we want to rid ourselves of that sin.

And so, Samuel recalls God’s ‘righteous acts’ in Israel’s history. And Samuel points out the faithless response of God’ People time after time.

 

Samuel points out a repeated pattern throughout Israel’s history: oppression by God-ordained enemies, cries for help and deliverance, and in answer God sends a deliverer. And notice, from verse 8, this is a pattern that goes all the way back to Egypt- to the time when Israel became God’s People.

From the very start God’s People have ‘forgotten’ God and ‘forsaken’ God. They haven’t forgotten that there is a God, but they have failed to see what He is truly like and what it means to be His People. But note, He did not forget them or forsake them.

But we would be wise not to sit in judgement over them- are we so different as we live as God’s People in this day?

You see, it’s an inevitable process: forget the Lord, forget His commandments, forget His goodness, begin to focus on yourself and your desires, and before we know it, we will forsake the Lord.

That is why we need to be rooted in God’s Word and have our minds saturated with His truth. When our focus is on the Lord, the world and its ways will hold less appeal.

So, Samuel has revisited Israel’s faithlessness in the past. Then he turns to more recent events.

Samuel’s Condemnation

God’s People now have a king. In verses 14 and 15 the alternatives were clear for the people and the king: they could live faithfully under God’s Way, or they could suffer justly under God’s hand. In verse 13 Samuel condemns them for their faithlessness.

 

In their dealings with Nahash and the Ammonite threat God’s People had forgotten God’s righteous acts. We see that with Nahash breathing threats and wreaking havoc the Israelites don’t look to God to deliver them. Instead, they dictate the method of deliverance. There is no appeal to the true King. No trust in God to send appropriate leadership as He had always done.

Again, we should be careful not to sit in judgement here. We do not need to face Ammonite aggression to slip into attitudes of unbelief. Whenever we face difficulties how easy it is for us wonder if God really will provide for us and turn to other sources of security to find peace of mind.

We can be just as faithless as the Israelites. This is the case against us. But how easy it is for us to dismiss this or try to justify ourselves. The Israelites were just the same. That’s why we all need to see what happens next.

The Fear Upon Us

As parents, some of us will know that verbal truth without visual aid does not always have the proper impact. We know that we can present our point to our child- well reasoned and logically sound- and yet it still fails to convince them. It’s very frustrating!

Samuel knew that he could provide a logical case filled with wisdom and reason, but that this wouldn’t necessarily impact the people. He knew these hard hearts needed to feel the reality of the situation, not just hear it reasoned out.

So he set forth his case, reminded the people of their covenant commitments, and then announced in verses 16 and 17:

“Now then, stand still and see this great thing the Lord is about to do before your eyes! Is it not wheat harvest now? I will call upon the Lord to send thunder and rain. And you will realize what an evil thing you did in the eyes of the Lord when you asked for a king.”

Samuel gave the people no time to reply to his accusations. He knew that if he paused the people might concoct some religious sounding nonsense to make themselves feel better.

In verses 18 and 19 we see that heaven’s thunderings got Israel’s attention. But why did this thunder and rain have the desired effect?

Well, simply because they knew that this was no mere thunderstorm. It was harvest time- the beginning of the dry season- and they all knew that rain was extremely rare at this time. So when they saw the equivalent of a foot of snow in the middle of the summer holidays they knew something significant was occurring. Not impossible- especially given our current strange weather incidents- but something so unheard of that it makes you think; or ‘stand still’.

God now had His People’s attention. Now the People must reckon with the reality of their situation: they had sinned against God, broken covenant with Him in their demand for a king, and they must face the consequences of their faithlessness.

Fundamentally the people were confronted with the reality of who their God is and what their God expects of His People. Their God was not to be taken lightly or to be presumed upon. Their God was willing and able to punish their sin.

This thunderstorm was, in reality, a gracious act. In order to help His People see the reality of their situation and turn back to Him He sends a sign of His holy anger to scare them to their senses. In in verse 19 we see that fear of God’s righteous wrath opened the way for repentance.

As the Proverb says: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And isn’t it interesting that the Bible is not shy in talking about the place of the fear of God moving men and women to repentance. The Bible isn’t shy about it; we needn’t be either.

What matters is whether there is a true basis for fear. In these verses we see both the kindness and severity of God. The Covenant God intends holy fear as the way to covenant faithfulness and fruitful flourishing under His rule.

Or, as the hymnwriter put it: ‘T’was grace that taught my heart to fear…’. A clear vison of God’s holiness leads us to a see the reality of our situation and the sinfulness of our sin. And this, in turn, helps us to appreciate the wonder of grace and the love of God- a love that would welcome us as His People in Christ.

And so we must see…

The Grace Shown to Us

Perhaps some of us here today feel a little like the Israelites- we have sinned against God in such a way that we wonder how we could ever call ourselves one of His People again. Well today God meets us in His Word and calls us to ‘stand still’ and ponder the grace that He shows to His People.

In our passage we have come to a point where we need to think through two important questions:

What does God do when His People have committed spiritual disaster and rebelled against Him?

What does God say to His People when they see the reality of their sin and it’s consequences?

Well in verses 20 to 25 we see that He offers a future and a hope. Our God is a God of awesome power and amazing grace. Each verse is full of significance

First, in verse 20 God tells the people through Samuel: ‘Do not be afraid … You have done all this evil; yet do not turn away from the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart.’. Israel has sinned, and judgment has been passed. But this is not the end of the story, because God is gracious.

Effectively God is saying: You are sinners, but you do not have to remain sinners. This judgment does not need to confirm you as someone who is ‘away from the LORD’. When we sin we do not keep replaying the episode in our minds. Instead, we take it to the Lord. We seek His forgiveness- which He freely gives in Christ. Then we seek His help to live for Him in renewed desire to serve Him- made possible by the Spirit in us.

Our God is the true and living God of unfailing love and amazing grace. And so, secondly, in verse 21, God’s People must not turn away after useless idols. Only God can bring true salvation and security when we humbly submit to Him.

Then, in verse 22, we see that our God is committed to His People in an unbreakable bond- a bond that not even our sin can break. Our God has chosen His People and He will never go back on that decision. His whole reputation is wrapped up in His faithfulness to the People He has chosen. Our God is committed to His Glory and He is most glorified in the justification and sanctification of His People.

In these verses we see that Our God is not the author of unfinished business. He completes what He begins. He will not allow His purposes for His People to be thwarted, even by their foolish rebellion. His grace is greater than all our sin.

The future of God’s People here in 1 Samuel 12 and the future of all God’s People throughout history rests on the faithfulness of God. Our God is a covenant-making and a covenant-keeping God. It is grace that draws us to Him. It is grace that sustains our walk with Him. It is grace that will take us to be with Him eternally.

In Philippians we hear these graciously assuring words: Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. God is concerned about His name and about His Glory. And He is so concerned that He won’t allow His purposes to be destroyed by the wickedness of His People.

And this should be a huge encouragement. When we are tempted to allow our past sins to define us, when we are tempted to conclude there is no hope for me, we must recognise that as the lie of the devil, not the truth of God’s Word.

Our sins may be many, but His mercy and grace are more and more. And it is the grace of God that calls us to follow Him and fuels our obedience as we walk in His Way. It is only by grace that we become God’s People. It is only by grace that we remain His People.

The enemy would have us wallow in guilt. Our Gracious God, in Christ, calls us to follow Him in grace-fuelled faithfulness.

In verses 24 and 25 we read:

But be sure to fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you. Yet if you persist in doing evil, both you and your king will be swept away.”

It’s not that obedience establishes covenant relationship with God, but it is our obedience allows God’s People to enjoy relationship with God.

It is in faithfully living for our God that we find true satisfaction- we find our chief end and can enjoy life eternally. This, again, is the amazing grace of God- that He would call us to trust and obey and find true life.

 

Conclusion

You may be wondering: ‘Well, what has this all got to do with us today?’.

Well, very simply, if we are followers of Jesus then we must see that He is the one this whole story is pointing to- He is the ultimate display of God’s faithfulness and the true King we are to faithfully follow. He is the King before whom we bow in humble submission. He is the real King who graciously rules over us.

We are called to follow our True King completely. We are called to love God with all we are and have because He first loved us. In Christ He has been faithful to us. And so, in Christ and by His Spirit, we live faithfully for Him. Our God is graciously faithful and He will complete His work in us. So let us turn from our sin and live for our King. Our sins they are many, His mercy is more.